Tatsuma:Yet again, three guys do something in Meah Shearim, and it creates an article worldwide that pans all Orthodox Jews.

The people who do this (the self-appointed modesty squad) are merely a bunch of thugs, without any supervision whatsoever, who terrorize their own population in Chareidi neighborhoods.

These are the people who also go to Iran to kiss Ahmadinejad, or support Hamas and Fatah, or spit at a little girl, or burn down stores.

They are barely in the low hundreds if you include both the members, supporters and their own families. This is how small they are. They are the Westboro Church of Judaism and do not in any way whatsoever represent the lifestyle of Chareidi Jews, we are all annoyed by that but guess what, no central authority, and these people don't even listen to their own Rabbis in the first place.

These people are Neturei Karta, or as they now like to be known, Sikrikim (the zealots).

I had to learn about these glasses on the internet, and I live in that friggin neighborhood.

I feel for ya Tats, it's always the idiots that take something too far that Ruin It For Everybody. Niven's law: "No cause is so noble that it won't attract farkheads"Magorn's corollary: "And it's the Farkheads the media will always designate as spokespeople for the cause

Andulamb:At least this puts the responsibility for a man's sin on the man and not on women. Men can't control their sexual urges? Fine. Then cover your eyes or cut off your junk. Don't blame women for your own thoughts.

St Origen approves of this message (warning do NOT google him unless you are mentally strong enough to handle the idea of auto-castration by blunt rocks)

Well you would be wrong, because they certainly existed in Poland, by the way.

Magorn:I feel for ya Tats, it's always the idiots that take something too far that Ruin It For Everybody. Niven's law: "No cause is so noble that it won't attract farkheads"Magorn's corollary: "And it's the Farkheads the media will always designate as spokespeople for the cause

Yeah pretty much. I mentioned that to a couple of people since I read it, and the general expression is a grown, a frown then moving on.

iheartscotch:Why do you guys care? If you're not an orthodox Jew; this doesn't affect you. In fact; it provides extra entertainment. You get to watch Hasidic jews bump into stuff and fall down. I bet that it even screws up their vision for the rest of their lives.

/ it's not funny when someone hurts themself; it's hilarious

More Wahhabis, more ultra-Orthodox and more Xtian fundies affects me quite a bit, because these retards breed like there's no tomorrow, because for them, there isn't, and Angry Sky Dad will fix it in the afterlife.

So I have an interest in seeing their breeding of each other and their pinheaded belief systems restricted as much as possible. The irony of human civilization is that "stopping at one or two" only occurs to people bright enough, in general, not to be chained to antique magic systems, and who can count past potato.

From my point of view, it's like giving the runts free run of the grain silo.

Tatsuma:Ultra-Orthodox Jews are just those Jews who do the extra mile, and sadly within that minority there is a stupid minority, as there are in everything.

At least the worst they do is scream at people, spit and yell. They don't actually kill or attack people (save the VERY few incidents) and when that happens, it is usually other Orthodox Jews that are attacked, not the non-religious.

I offer this in the most earnest and non-accusatory sense possible. Within the haredi community, many if not most seem to pursue a life apart from the secular community and the world at large. When they keep to themselves, though, it allows the lunatic fringe to set their image for them. I mean, there's you coming on here to explain that this is not a widespread thing among the population of Mea Shearim or Crown Heights or Kiryas Joel, but most people don't hear it. The ultra-Orthodox community seems to invite wild speculation about these things because they are generally insular by choice. Wouldn't it behoove the communities to at least have some public information office to handle public relations and perception among the general population, if indeed you guys do care at all what the broader public thinks about you and dispelling perceptions based on the actions of Neturei Karta fanatics?

indylaw:I offer this in the most earnest and non-accusatory sense possible. Within the haredi community, many if not most seem to pursue a life apart from the secular community and the world at large. When they keep to themselves, though, it allows the lunatic fringe to set their image for them. I mean, there's you coming on here to explain that this is not a widespread thing among the population of Mea Shearim or Crown Heights or Kiryas Joel, but most people don't hear it. The ultra-Orthodox community seems to invite wild speculation about these things because they are generally insular by choice. Wouldn't it behoove the communities to at least have some public information office to handle public relations and perception among the general population, if indeed you guys do care at all what the broader public thinks about you and dispelling perceptions based on the actions of Neturei Karta fanatics?

We do care, but we are a very very decentralized religion. We don't have a Sanhedrin. We don't have a King. Heck, we don't even have a spokesman we could all agree on. We are an incredibly splintered community, how could we ever put out our message our, when we can't even agree on what the details are?

You heard of two jews, three opinions, right? It makes this mess look good.

Do the glasses work on bacon? Or would that be dangerous, because you might mistake a bacon burger for a regular burger and eat it and burst into flames or whatever happens when Jews come into contact with bacon?

What about the word "god"? If you read "god" in a book, would the glasses remove the "o" and replace it with a "-" so you wouldn't get dragged off to hell or whatever the fark is supposed to happen that makes twerpy people write "g-d" all the time?

Glasses that edit out hot chicks just don't go far enough as far as I'm concerned.

iheartscotch:Why do you guys care? If you're not an orthodox Jew; this doesn't affect you. In fact; it provides extra entertainment. You get to watch Hasidic jews bump into stuff and fall down. I bet that it even screws up their vision for the rest of their lives.

/ it's not funny when someone hurts themself; it's hilarious

To quote a great Jew: Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.

Tatsuma:We do care, but we are a very very decentralized religion. We don't have a Sanhedrin. We don't have a King. Heck, we don't even have a spokesman we could all agree on. We are an incredibly splintered community, how could we ever put out our message our, when we can't even agree on what the details are?

You heard of two jews, three opinions, right? It makes this mess look good.

You may not have a Sanhedrin, but it seems like at least the various sects of Orthodoxy, or the people within a given Orthodox community, could agree upon someone for the limited purpose of dispelling perceptions that haredim are often threatening and actively hostile to secular women or that all the frum men are going around with Mr. Magoo glasses to avoid accidentally seeing some tramp's legs.

indylaw:You may not have a Sanhedrin, but it seems like at least the various sects of Orthodoxy, or the people within a given Orthodox community, could agree upon someone for the limited purpose of dispelling perceptions that haredim are often threatening and actively hostile to secular women or that all the frum men are going around with Mr. Magoo glasses to avoid accidentally seeing some tramp's legs.

The OU, the Agudath Israel, Shas, as well as so many major Rabbis have all issued statements condemning this. Many times, multiple times, usually anytime such an incident flares up. What more can they do?

Ed Grubermann:Why do I think religion is some asinine form of collective insanity? Oh, I don't know...

Oh yes. Only religion has followers that exhibit collective insanity. You can choose not to follow their beliefs. Just because you do doesn't mean that you should belittle or defame what they believe in. Tolerance is a great thing to have. Try it some time.

Tatsuma:Yet again, three guys do something in Meah Shearim, and it creates an article worldwide that pans all Orthodox Jews.

The people who do this (the self-appointed modesty squad) are merely a bunch of thugs, without any supervision whatsoever, who terrorize their own population in Chareidi neighborhoods.

These are the people who also go to Iran to kiss Ahmadinejad, or support Hamas and Fatah, or spit at a little girl, or burn down stores.

They are barely in the low hundreds if you include both the members, supporters and their own families. This is how small they are. They are the Westboro Church of Judaism and do not in any way whatsoever represent the lifestyle of Chareidi Jews, we are all annoyed by that but guess what, no central authority, and these people don't even listen to their own Rabbis in the first place.

These people are Neturei Karta, or as they now like to be known, Sikrikim (the zealots).

I had to learn about these glasses on the internet, and I live in that friggin neighborhood.